European Union expects to be excluded from Trump’s trade tariffs

After the signing ceremony, EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom said the EU should also be exempt from the ruling because it is a close ally of the US.

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It was Beijing’s latest statement on “problems in Sino-U.S. economic trade and cooperation”, alluding to President Donald Trump’s plan to impose heavy tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.

“China does not wish to fight a trade war, nor will China initiate a trade war, but we can handle any challenge and will resolutely defend the interests of our country and our people”, he said. Trump did say he expected both Canada and Mexico to take action to prevent other countries from sneaking steel into the U.S.by sending them to Canada or Mexico first.

While Trump should feel free to question certain trade agreements, his tool of choice, tariffs, would do far more harm than good.

He said, “Spoke to Prime Minister Abe of Japan, who is very enthusiastic about talks with North Korea”. In theory, this makes the foreign products more expensive – boosting domestic makers of the product, which don’t have to pay the tax.

Steel prices were already on the rise in the USA market, with hot-rolled coil up almost 19 percent in February 2018, on an annual basis, buoyed by demand from the construction, automotive and energy sectors, said Joe Innace, Platts’s content director, metals/Americas.

After Chinese President Xi Jinping successfully got rid of term limits in China, President Trump joked that the idea “was great” and “maybe we’ll give it a try someday”, in a clip obtained by CNN. “We just want fairness, because we have not been treated fairly by other countries”.

True if you’re the golfing equivalent of a driver, or one wood, as the United States is, while the rest of the world’s left playing with a chipper meaning the game’s in the bag.

“While our members don’t import a lot of steel or aluminium, these tariffs could result in disastrous consequences for them”.

Labor’s trade spokesman, Jason Clare, said he was inclined to accept Turnbull’s explanation.

Asked at the conference whether she was ready to react if the 28-country European Union was included in the United States tariffs, Ms Malmstrom said she stood ready to go to the WTO, the worldwide trade arbiter, to impose the bloc’s own safeguards within 90 days.

Mr Trump hinted at the exemption earlier today when he tweeted he had spoken to Mr Turnbull, who he said was “committed to having a very fair and reciprocal military and trade relationship”.

What is unfolding before us is also a good reminder that we need to make a complete review of trade policy per se the United States under Trump.

Countries can challenge other nations’ tariffs through a panel of judges at the World Trade Organization in Switzerland.

Trump has also agreed in a phone call with Argentine President Mauricio Macri to consider Argentina’s request for an exemption, the Argentine government said.

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Mr Ciobo said he completely disagreed with suggestions that there could be moral pressure on Australia to agree if, for example, Mr Trump asked to conduct freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea.